ගෝල්ඩන් චයිම්ස්
3 songs performed
Golden Chimes (ගෝල්ඩන් චයිම්ස්, sometimes written The Golden Chimes) was a Sri Lankan pop group formed in January 1971 by guitarist and composer Clarence Wijewardena after he left The Moonstones. With its electric-guitar driven arrangements and Sinhala-language songwriting, the band helped define the sound of modern Sinhala pop in the early 1970s before evolving into the better-known Super Golden Chimes.
Wijewardena built the Golden Chimes around former Moonstones colleagues and the singer Lankika Perera, who joined in 1971. Their early recordings appeared on the Sooriya and Philips labels, the same circuit that carried the wave of guitar-band Sinhala pop emerging at the time. The group’s first releases packaged together several of the songs that became their calling card.
The band’s debut material brought together Kimada Nawe, Sihin Sinawai, and Sathuta Senasuma (Satuta Senasuma), tunes that have stayed in circulation across reissues and compilations for decades. These early Golden Chimes recordings show the template Wijewardena would refine: simple, singable melodies carried by clean electric guitar and close vocal harmony.
The Golden Chimes were short-lived as a named lineup. In 1972 to 1973 Wijewardena and lead guitarist Dixon Gunaratne moved on to form the Super Golden Chimes with the vocalist Annesley Malewana, a group that dominated the Sinhala and English service charts of Radio Ceylon through the 1970s and 1980s. The original Golden Chimes are remembered as the bridge between The Moonstones and that later success, an early chapter in Wijewardena’s career as one of the architects of Sinhala pop. The Golden Chimes catalog remains a staple for listeners revisiting the foundations of the genre.
Every Sinhala lyric, composition, and song credit by Golden Chimes.